Beam Me Up Science Fiction in the news,on tv,at the movies or in print. Whatever is of interest to you and to me is fair game. I also discuss cutting edge science that just might influence new sci-fi Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 50 5020

Articles from Beam Me Up

The Fermi Paradox is Back 2007-08-05 14:49:00 I found this article about Fermi's Paradox on the Slashdot blog.Sentient Developments revisits the Fermi Paradox which is "the contradictory and counter-intuitive observation that we have yet to see any evidence for the existence of Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (ETI) although the size and age of the Universe suggests that many technologically advanced ETI's ought to exist. Sentient Development's blog post on the Fermi Paradox states that a number breakthroughs and have contributed to the Fermi Paradox gaining credence as an unsolved scientific problem. (1)How we view and understand our galaxy and universe,(2) Improved understanding of planet formation, composition and habitable zones,(3) The discovery of extrasolar planets,(4) Confirmation of the rapid origination of life on Earth(5) Growing legitimacy of panspermia theories"So, where is everyone?" ...

Doughnut shaped Vacuum Time Machine? 2007-08-04 22:12:00 A physicist from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, has come up with what he says are practical solutions to overcome the hindrances that experts have long regarded as stopping us from traveling back in time. But rather than building an actual device, the machine is space-time itself. Time travel research is based on bending space-time so far that the time lines actually warp back on themselves to form a loop. While the possibility of time travel has never been ruled out, scientists have identified a number of physical challenges, such as not enough exotic matter, to create the necessary warp and get the wheels of time to turn back. However this new research path suggests that if the proper initial conditions were achieved, the time machine would evolve on its own without any further intervention.Thanks to shaun Saunders for the post ...

US Government developing RFID implant for soldiers 2007-08-03 16:46:00 The next time some crazy homeless guy comes up to you saying that the government planted a microchip in his brain, he just might be telling the truth. That's because the US Department of Defense has already started a program to develop a tiny microchip, about the size of a grain of rice, which can monitor soldier's vital signs, giving important information to trauma doctors and other first responders. It can also be used to continuously monitor the condition of people like astronauts, or someone with a chronic condition like diabetes. Human trials are set to begin in as few as five years from now.MallCity Shaun! f***in MallCity! ... Developing

Fall Science Fiction TV show update 2007-08-03 15:51:00 Geekend blog just passed on the new sci-fi shows that will premiere this fall. They also now have the days and times that these shows will appear on. Check it out!Chuck [Monday, Sept. 24, 8:00 PM, NBC] High concept: Hapless tech-support geek accidentally gets reams of uber-secret spy data downloaded into his brain, making him the most coveted walking hard drive on the planet.Journeyman [Monday, Sept. 24, 10:00 PM, NBC] Preview available here. The concept goes something like this: a San Francisco newspaper reporter gets sent back in time by an unknown power to right wrongs. Sounds familiar, right? The difference is that McKidd is absent from the present for the same amount of time he spends in the past, so if he spends 48 hours in 1987, he misses 48 hours in 2007, which screws up his family life.New Amsterdam [Tuesday, Sept. 25, 8:00 PM, FOX] Preview available here. John Amsterdam is a NY City homicide detective who just happens to be an immortal from the 17th century who can’t re ...

Heroes and Stargate Atlantis News 2007-08-02 12:04:00 From About.com's sci-fi blogStargate Atlantis:Fans of Stargate Atlantis's Scottish medical officer, Carson Beckett (Paul McGillion), who was killed off in January, plan to rally at ComicCon in San Diego to make sure that producers and network execs know just how outraged they still are. The popular character's death was all the more startling because it came at the end of an idyllic, off-duty episode called "Sunday," the 17th episode of the spin-off's third season. While many agree the episode itself was well-written and beautifully executed, fans worldwide immediately reacted negatively to the finality with which Beckett was written out.NBC's Heroes:George Takei discussed his role recently on Sirius's Howard Stern show, where he hinted that Kaito will exhibit some form of light-emitting powers. Takei plays Kaito Nakamura, the father of Masi Oka's Hiro.Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images. ...

Nautilus facts and misconceptions 2007-07-30 22:09:00 I was speaking with my part time co-host Ron Huber the other day about mystery power generating systems in Science Fiction. Of course I slid blithely into how mysterious Vern's power generator was in his submersible The Nautilus. Well I came upon this article on GeekendTechReplubic about just this subject. Their article starts off with the US Navy's U.S.S. Nautilus (SSN-571) which was the first nuclear powered sub for the US and the first to navigate under the north pole. Now at the time SNN-571 was being commissioned - Disney's version of Well's 20000 leagues under the sea suggested that Nemo's sub tapped into some mysterious power. Between that and the fact that SNN-571 was nuclear cemented into a whole generations mind that Vern's Nautilus was similarly powered. Not so! Verne clearly wrote that his Nautilus‘ power came from sodium/mercury batteries, the salts for which Captain Nemo distilled from seawater using conventional coal-heated furnaces. Verne’s Nautilus wa ...

The 50 best movie robots 2007-07-30 17:25:00 From Timesonline via Cory Doctorow's Boing Boing I have Times Entertainment list of the 50 best SF movie robots. This is how they rated them in the article -Plausibility (meaning how likely it would be that, with advances on currently existing technology, such a device could be built) Coolness (just how well designed, shiny or generally well-appointed the robot appeared to be) Dangerousness (scoring not only on built-in weaponry, but the robot's eagerness to use it)Comedy Value (how effective the robot is at providing light relief in the film in which it appears)Here is some of the more interesting items I pulled from reading the articleAndrew Martin (Bicentennial Man) Andrew's model number is NDR-114. This is thought to be a tribute to Stanley Kubrick, who used the lucky number in several of his films for example A Clockwork Orange and Dr. Strangelove.Preston (A Close Shave) The evil robotic dog is named for director Nick Park's home townC3-PO (Star Wars ) gets his name from ...

Single gene deletion boosts lifespan 2007-07-29 17:54:00 According to news@nature.comResearchers have created a mutant mouse that lives longer despite eating more and weighing less — all thanks to the loss of a single protein. Without this protein, the body is less susceptible to the heart-pounding effects of the hormone adrenaline, and may become more resistant to some forms of stress. Scientists are already developing drugs to inhibit this protein, called type 5 adenylyl cyclase (AC5). Drugs that block adrenaline signalling, called beta-blockers, are known to help patients who have had heart attacks or suffer from an irregular heartbeat. As the researchers revealed in 2003, mutant mice lacking AC5 were more resistant to heart failure caused by pressure within the heart. But in the process, the research team also realised that the mutant mice lived longer than their normal counterparts.Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post ...

Three dead in California spaceport blast 2007-07-27 17:48:00 Three people were killed and three others critically injured on Thursday July 27, 2007 - in an explosion at the California testing facilities operated by commercial spaceflight pioneer Burt Rutan.The blast occurred at the Mojave Air and Space Port, where Scaled Composites, the company formed by Rutan, was testing rocket motor components. Two people were killed instantly in the explosion at 1434 local time and four others were rushed to a local hospital. One of those died following surgery. Rutan was the first person to privately put a crewed space craft into space, collecting the XPrize with the feat.Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post ...

Top 10 best Spacewalks in History 2007-07-26 15:48:00 Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth (a spacewalk). As of September 13, 2006, 158 astronauts had made spacewalks (out of 448 astronauts ever in space). These are some of the most interesting moments in spacewalks history.Click on the article title or the photo to go to the blog site which contains some fantastic pictures and videos. Enjoy! ... History

Organic compound found in the stars 2007-07-25 23:00:00 From Nature.comAstronomers have found the largest (organic) molecule so far seen in interstellar space. The discovery, of an organic compound, suggests that the chemical building blocks of life may be more common in the Universe than had been previously thought. The discovery, along with that of three smaller organic molecules in the past year, opens up a suite of potential chemical reactions and products. It suggests that 'prebiotic' molecules such as amino acids, the building blocks of protein, could form all over the UniverseThanks to Shaun A. Saunder for the postphoto by NASA ...

Space station's future threatened 2007-07-24 22:43:00 According to NewScientist online magazineNASA and its international partners may be hard-pressed to keep the space station alive after the planned retirement of the space shuttle in 2010. The US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing on the status of the space shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS) on July 24th in Washington, DC, US. After the shuttles retire in 2010, current plans call for other vehicles, such as the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to pick up some of the slack. NASA is relying on commercial space vehicles currently under development in its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme to make up the rest. But Tommy Holloway, who ...

Gardner Dozois is on the mend 2007-07-23 19:10:00 As I read last week, Gardner Dozois was in for bypass surgery. He had a major setback about a week ago that required surgery to install a defibrillator. However, as I am reading now, he has been steadily improving and is going or already is home. ...

Pig To Human Transplantation Getting Closer 2007-07-23 17:19:00 Hey Shaun.....Of Pigs and.....? huh huh? I swear you were dead on with this!!!!Science Daily — Experiments using pigs genetically engineered for compatibility with the human immune system have raised hopes that cross-species transplantation could soon become an option for patients with diabetes and other currently incurable diseases. However, many scientific hurdles remain before the ultimate goal of inducing long-term tolerance of animal tissues and organs in human recipients.Progress (is being made) ... with a strain of pigs genetically engineered in the hope of addressing chronic shortages of organs and tissues for transplantation. The animals lack the gene responsible for "alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferase" (GT)—an enzyme normally present in the pig vascular system. Humans have natural, preformed antibodies to GT, resulting in immediate (acute) rejection of any pig-to-human transplant. ...

New Stargate series in the planning stage 2007-07-23 16:53:00 Executive producer Robert C. Cooper told GateWorld exclusively That there is a new Stargate series on the drawing boards. The new series has a working title of Stargate Universe. The new series has been conceived to be "a completely separate, third entity," Cooper said "much more so than Atlantis was. Atlantis was much more of a spin-off series of SG-1 and was sort of born out of SG-1." Cooper said, the idea for Stargate Universe was originally conceived as a stand-alone movie. Also Stargate Universe will not be set in a different era, Cooper confirmed, neither as a prequel nor in the far future of the Stargate program. ...